Taking Chances

If you are an Indian, and that too a married girl, Karwachauth (defined by Wikipedia as ‘one-day festival celebrated by Hindu women in North India and the Indian state of Gujarat in which married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands’ lives) brings mixed responses.

Prima facie it seems that it is inhumane to force somebody to keep a fast irrespective of whether they actually wish for their husbands to live long. I used to think that its only because of a Lalita Pawar type Mother in Law hovering on one’s head which forced one to keep a fast. However one gets surprised when one notices the kind of excitement female folk display on this day.

My wife for one has never subscribed to the concept. Resultantly, even a pimple on my face is a direct result of my wife not keeping fast, as per my sweet mother. When I was leaving from office today, somebody advised me to buy a gift on my way home. I said – ‘What gift? She has not kept any fast.’ The unanimous belief was that I have to buy a gift whether she keeps fast or not. I am willing to take my chances; after all she is taking chance on my life.